Sen. Angus King said Thursday that he and his colleagues on the Senate Intelligence Committee feel pressure to conduct a fair investigation into Russian interference in last year’s presidential election and “avoid some of the infighting that you've seen on the other side.”

The other side to which King (I-Maine) referred is the ongoing investigation into Russian meddling by the House Intelligence Committee, which has devolved into a partisan battle in recent days over the refusal of chairman Devin Nunes (R-Calif.) to offer clarity into his assertion last week that members of President Donald Trump’s transition team were inadvertently surveilled by the U.S. intelligence community.

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Nunes, who met with a still-unnamed source for his revelation on the White House grounds one day before announcing it to the public, quickly briefed the president on his findings but still has not shared the intelligence with other members of the House Intelligence Committee. That move has prompted Democrats, including the committee’s ranking Democrat, Rep. Adam Schiff (D-Calif.), to question his credibility to continue leading the investigation and to call for his recusal.

A Senate investigation has thus far progressed much more smoothly, with Senate Intelligence Committee chairman Richard Burr (R-N.C.) and ranking member Mark Warner (D-Va.) holding a joint press conference on Wednesday. Thursday morning on MSNBC’s “Morning Joe,” King and fellow committee member James Lankford (R-Okla.) said they are aiming to keep their committee’s investigation out of the partisan mud that has bogged down the House.

“I think we feel that responsibility. And that's why we're really working at making this a nonpartisan investigation,” King said. “We're going to try to do it and avoid some of the infighting that you've seen on the other side.”

“You know, you're seeing an independent and Republican standing here. You saw our chair and ranking member yesterday. It's not going to be easy,” the Maine senator continued. “I mean, I don't want to pretend that there aren't going to be some conflicts. This is a difficult issue and has partisan overtones. But I think most of our members realize it's too important to fall into that.”

King estimated that the Senate investigation would take at least six to eight months to complete and possibly longer, given the thousands of pages of documents to go through and the complexity of the matter at hand. He said the committee will seek to have as many open hearings as possible in an effort to be as transparent as possible with the American people and ultimately present a report worthy of their trust.

Lankford praised Burr and Warner for their efforts to maintain a bipartisan investigation, which include attending briefings together to make sure they both get the same information and engaging in an array of phone calls and meetings committee-wide to hash out process and keep members informed.

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“The more that we can talk to each other, the more that we can establish trust. As everyone would say, there is no such [thing] as a nonpartisan investigation," Lankford said. "And there are times people say ‘well, let’s do an independent investigation that’s separate from politics.' You can't find 10 people in this town that have no political connections on it, especially to go through the security clearances. So it's important that we do get it right, we continue to talk it out and make sure that we settle this.”